Wonder Products

About three months ago we received an enquiry from the food catering division of an International Airline - Emirates.

Apparently, those trolleys the air hostess push up and down the aisle’s that contain your meals, get a lot of decals on them. We are not sure what type of decals, but we know they need to be removed.

Generally the trolley’s are made from aluminium so there is no concern about damaging the surface. The customer was after the fastest way to remove the decals. Our suggestion… the Wonder Wheel.

There are other products out there that work at removing the decals. They could have used a metal razor blade (though I guess they didn’t due to employee safety and the chance of cutting yourself) or they could have used a plastic razor blade, such as the Wonder Blade. These products works well, though better for smaller and delicate areas where speed is not the most important element.

So what was the outcome… well the Airline must have a a lot of decals to remove as they have used a bunch of Wonder Wheels and from what I hear, they are pretty happy with the results

A lot of trailers and trucks come with decals or signage along the side of them. This is a great marketing tool. However, over time, brands change or trucks need new marketing so you need a way of removing these decals.

The suggestion we have for removing the decals from the side of trucks are:

1) Plastic razor blade. The Wonder Blade can be used to get under the decal and lift it off. As the blade is made from plastic, it won’t rip or damage the tarpaulin

2) Metal Razor blade. We don’t recommend this as its easy to rip the tarp. This can turn into a very costly exercise.

3) Heat gun. A heat gun works by heating up the adhesive so it loses it sticky quality. This then lets you peel back the decal. We recommend testing in a discrete spot first as a heat gun can sometimes affect the tarpaulin

Good luck removing those decals

Have you noticed how many stickers are stuck on trains. You know, those one’s that some bored person has stuck onto the inside of a train carriage or the back of a train seat.

So how do you remove these?

The suggestion we have for removing the decals are:

1) Wonder Wheel. This is a great tool when moving larger decals. It works by the soft rubber wheel wearing away the surface. There is a video demonstration you can view of it working. We recommend testing it first in a small area to make sure it doesn’t affect the surface

2) Heat gun. A heat gun works by heating up the adhesive so it loses it sticky quality. This then lets you peel back the decal. We recommend testing in a discrete spot first as a heat gun can sometimes affect the surface – especially if its plastic

3) Plastic razor blade. The Wonder Blade can be used to get under the decal and lift it off. As the blade is made from plastic, it won’t damage the surface

4) Metal Razor blade. We don’t recommend this as its easy to scratch the surface (unless the decal is on glass, then it’s okay).

Enjoy your commuting

It’s not a common problem though if you own a motor bike, especially a 2^nd hand one, then removing an old decal from the petrol tank can be quite annoying,

What is needed is a simple method that won’t damage the surface and is effective. For this application we recommend using

1) Plastic razor blade

Using a plastic razor blade is simple and won’t damage the surface. As petrol tanks are often painted you need to be cautious not to damage or scratch it. Using a plastic blade such as the Wonder Blade is the safest option

(Using a metal razor makes it too easy to scratch the surface so we don’t recommend this).

Using a product such as Eucalyptus is a good idea to remove the adhesive that can be left on the surface once the decal is removed.

Enjoy riding

Often PC’s come with manufactured or asset labels that need to be removed. Due to PC’s being made from plastic then using a chemical is not recommended due to the way it can re-act with the surface.

What is needed is a simple method that won’t damage the surface and is effective. For this application we recommend using either

1) Plastic razor blade

2) Metal razor blade (only if it’s stuck on the back of the PC)

Using a plastic razor blade is simple and won’t damage the surface. As outer casing of PC’s is made from plastic you need to be cautious not to damage or scratch it. Using a plastic blade such as the Wonder Blade is the safest option

If the decal is on the back of the PC, then it’s possible to use a Metal razor blade. We don’t recommend using these on any areas on the front of the PC due to it being able to scratch the surface (and also the ability to cut yourself)

Last week we talked about removing decals from a basketball court and how a plastic razor blade like the Wonder blade was the best tool.

Well I received an email from the same guy, now wanting to know how to get rid of the adhesive that the decal left on the court surface.

For this situation we took a different approach. We don’t normally recommend man made chemicals to remove adhesive because of the adverse affects they can have on your skin – we have seen some bad stuff.

Firstly, you have to ensure that the surface area where the decal has been removed, hasn’t affected the polished floor boards. If you use any chemical on a non polished (no lacquer) floor board, then the chemical can really affect the wood. (i.e. making it swell up or bubble)

So after our buddy confirmed the wooden floor boards were still polished and he hadn’t removed any of the lacquer we recommended he use eucalyptus oil. This is a natural product from gum trees and works really well at removing any goo or adhesive.

The result a clean basketball court with the sponsors decal removed

The other day I received a question about how to remove a sponsorship decal that was on a basketball court.

The first question I asked the young chap was:

“What sort of basketball court is it? Do you use it for training or it is for games…”

The reason being, is if it’s a basketball court that is only used for training, then it doesn’t matter whether you mark the surface. A little scuffing of the wood is okay. In that case, I would be comfortable using either:

1) Wonder Wheel: rubber wheel that wears away the decal, though can slightly mark the wood and remove the polish from the floor boards

2) Metal razor: this will chip some of the floor boards, though won’t leave too much of a mark

However, this was a court that was used for the local high school matches so the floor had to be kept in perfect condition. So what was my recommendation.

I recommended he use a plastic blade, like the Wonder Blade. The reason – as it’s made of soft plastic blade, it won’t scratch the surface or mark the wood. The plastic blade is strong enough to get under the surface of the decal, then you slowly pull back the vinyl whilst lifting the blade further under the decal. It’s quite easy and fast